A couple of months ago I was complaining about the lack of rain but since then It hasn’t stopped. The river is not quite as bad as it was after the October deluge but 200mls in the last 2 weeks of November have really stirred things up again.

Gilligan and myself fished for whiting a week before the Dec 4 full moon. We only managed 3 good fish to 34cm, but the tides were slow as we were still in neap phase of the moon. A couple of my readers have sent me some photos of quality whiting they caught on the Nov new moon tides. They were fishing night tides, with worms by far the best bait. One reader only caught 4 whiting after fishing most of the night, but he was plagued by juvenile grunter bream stealing the bait.

The hardest thing at the moment is finding a day when it’s not raining. Even Willy weather, usually so reliable, is having trouble getting it right.
I reckon those juvenile prawns that I saw skipping about the banks in one of my Oct reports would just about be full size by now. The continuous rain would have flushed them out, so for those of you who know what you’re doing, it might be worth your while to throw a net for them in the lower reaches.

I couldn’t work out why I had so much room in my boat when I was fishing the other day, until I caught my first fish. When I went to throw it on the ice I realized I’d left my esky next to my fishing freezer in my shed. I had to swim my fish in my live bait tank until ‘she who must be obeyed’ ran it down to the boat ramp for me (what a valuable fishing tool my mobile phone is).

One of the hardest things fishing in the river when it is so dirty, as it is now, is finding the washouts where those big whiting hole up. It is particularly hard on the runout tide because once the clear water is off the banks the water is a real coffee colour. Anyhow one thing I know is, those big whiting will be there, you’ve just got to find them.

I know this rain is a pain in the backside but believe me, the whiting fishing this coming summer might just be the season we talk about for years to come. All reports indicate a few mud crabs moving about the lower reaches and there should be some quality sand crabs if you set your pots near the river mouth and catch the top of the run in, when there is some clean water available. It appears the flathead fisho’s are doing well with plastics and live bait.

The school holidays are only days away, so for all you lucky people who have time off to refresh, good luck. As for me, the river gets too busy at this time of the year with holiday makers, jet skis etc. – and I’m becoming such a grumpy old man – I just can’t cope with the extra stress. I’ll probably go into hibernation over the Christmas break and sneak out, only when the itch gets uncontrollable.